{"id":4391,"date":"2022-04-15T00:19:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-15T04:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=4391"},"modified":"2022-05-09T18:08:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-09T22:08:42","slug":"even-after-exterminators-mice-persist-at-brookdale-dorms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2022\/04\/even-after-exterminators-mice-persist-at-brookdale-dorms\/","title":{"rendered":"Mice Persist at Brookdale Dorms Even After Exterminators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured image courtesy of @ratsofbrookdale via Instagram.<\/em><\/p>\n

They\u2019re in the bushes. They\u2019re in the lobby under vending machines. In the kitchens, under ovens, on stovetops and in cupboards. The worst ones live inside dorm rooms. Finding a mouse in Brookdale isn\u2019t hard, but catching one seems to be the problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last spring, as a freshman living in the dorms, Lucas Ayala took matters into his own hands. After one of his neighbors saw a mouse in their community kitchen, Ayala laid down glue traps that he bought. The next day, he found a mouse stuck to the trap, so he alerted the resident advisor. Her response: \u201cLeave it there.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That same night Ayala and the rest of his floor received an email from their RA, telling them not to put down their own traps because exterminators won\u2019t check them. The message, according to a copy that was shared with The Athenian, instructed residents to \u201cimmediately\u201d remove any traps that have been put in communal spaces and asked them to fill out a work order when they have problems instead. \u201c<\/span>They are usually very fast about putting them in,\u201d the email stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
A sign posted in the basement of Brookdale warning of rat poison.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But this isn\u2019t the case according to Ayala. Now a sophomore living in the dorms, he previously put in a work order for \u201creally moldy\u201d shower curtains but says the process takes too long. <\/span>\u201cI was like \u2018This is ridiculous I might as well do this myself.\u2019\u201d He bought a new curtain to hang there, which he says was replaced quickly after by Brookdale.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Spotting mice in the kitchen is one thing, but inside rooms is another. Harrison Glassman, a junior, noticed what appeared to be rat droppings on his bed one day. He says his twin brother, who also dorms at Brookdale, has seen multiple rats crawling in his room, \u201cthree or four times.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Glassman, an exterminator came a few months ago to patch up students\u2019 rooms and to set traps in the kitchen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But glue traps only do so much. Early in the semester Glassman and his neighbors noticed a mouse stuck on a trap \u201csquealing in<\/span> pain for hours.\u201d They decided to take it out of its misery by <\/span>slamming with a kitchen pan.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
A glue trap set underneath the sink of the 6th-floor kitchen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite everyone\u2019s best efforts, the rodent issue is still as rampant according to Peter Manos, a sophomore. The environmental studies major sees a mouse once every two weeks. He recalls signs in the kitchen about the exterminator coming. \u201cBut obviously, it never worked because there were continually more and more mice,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the issue persists, students take their own precautions. Glassman\u2019s brother uses picture frames to seal up the gap underneath his door to make sure mice don\u2019t squeeze in from the outside. \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s been working or not,\u201d says the Italian major, but he hasn\u2019t seen one in his room since.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The residence life commissioner of the Undergraduate Student Government, Elizabeth Bianco says she doesn\u2019t know of any details regarding the rodents. \u201cIt’s an issue that needs to be addressed,\u201d she said and offered that she is in communication with administrators at the Office of Student Affairs about the problem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Office of Student Affairs did not respond to requests for comment, and neither did the Office of Communications.<\/span><\/p>\n

The word on Hunter\u2019s rodent issue is getting around as students notice mice present outside of Brookdale. Two weeks ago, PIX 11 published a \u201cCrumbling CUNY<\/a>\u201d story that pointed to weak infrastructure around the campus and students who often see mice in areas like the 6th-floor library.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
A gaping hole in the ceiling of the 6th-floor bathroom, courtesy of Carley Nicoletti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But at the dorms, there are other problems besides just the rodents. Students reference constantly non-functioning elevators, heaters that turn on when it\u2019s already too hot, moldy bathroom ceilings\/walls, and heavily trafficked kitchens. Bianco hasn\u2019t responded to The Athenian\u2019s request for more information.<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesperson from Residence Life at Hunter said that the rodent issue is not something they can address. \u201cUnless it\u2019s general housing things, we can\u2019t really directly speak about anything that\u2019s not found on our website,\u201d they said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though the living situation is getting better as the <\/span>dorm allows visitors<\/span><\/a> again, it\u2019s not enough for Ayala. \u201cIt\u2019s starting to improve a little bit, but I don\u2019t know if Brookdale will ever be a nice place to live.\u201d Ayala plans to move out of the dorms and into an apartment next year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI saw a rat crawl right under the door and into that person\u2019s room,\u201d says one student of his next-door neighbor, \u201cThey\u2019re just able to squeeze under and go in.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":4393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,324],"tags":[104,487,489,488],"class_list":["post-4391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-student-life","tag-brookdale","tag-brookdale-dorms","tag-crumbling-cuny","tag-rodent-problem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4391"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4404,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4391\/revisions\/4404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}